1849-52.] MR. LEES' CULTURE IN TLTOEVELLY. 177 



Lie through an European Agency. Government also 

 1 might aid the effort by a very slight and temporary re- 

 1 duction of the assessment on all lands under foreign 



Cotton ; but still Mr, Thomas believed that a sure and 

 ' permanent market on the spot would be a sufficient 

 J encouragement ; and that if the crops of Native Cotton 

 ' could pay the land-tax, the crops of American Cotton 



would be able to do the same. 

 Cotton cultivation by Mr. David Lees in Tinneveily : 259 



discussion concerning the right of Chayroot Renters. — 



• The experiments of Mr. David Lees in the correspond- 

 cultivation of American Cotton in Tinne- enceand 

 velly, and their failure on the score of cost p a ri r Retum 



1 of cultivation, will be found noticed in Dr. (i857),p.3i9, 



"Wight's final report, but a few additional 

 " particulars will find a fitting place here. Mr. David 



Lees had originally proceeded to Southern India, under 

 ' the sanction of the Manchester Commercial Associa- 

 ' tion, to make experiments and ascertain facts in con- 



• nection with the cultivation of American Cotton. The 



• success of those experiments subsequently induced him 

 to establish his nephew, Mr. Arthur Lees, in Tinneveily, 



8 as a Cotton planter and merchant ; in order that he 

 might continue and extend the cultivation, and at the 



1 same time purchase all the American Cotton that the 

 6 Ryots were disposed to cultivate upon his own im- 

 1 proved system. An obstacle, however, arose to his own 

 cultivation from the claims of the Chayroot renters. 

 " These men paid a considerable sum to G-overnment for 



9 the right to dig up all the Chayroot # produced in the 

 ° ! Tinneveily district, whether on waste land, or on land 

 n occupied with dry cultivation. This right had been 

 1 farmed out from time immemorial ; and accordingly in 



} December, 1850, nearly a whole year after the com- 

 mencement of the Cotton culture, the Chayroot renters 

 claimed the privilege of entering the fields under cul- 

 ture by Mr. Lees, and of their digging up the Chay- 

 [l: roots with a kind of spear about a foot and a half long. 

 " Mr. Lees of course resisted this claim, especially as the 

 ' digging for the roots was injurious to the cultivation of 



* A root from which a certain dye is extracted. 

 I N 



